Larry Brody's Guide to Writing for the Medium Everyone Loves to Hate

BATTLE ROYALE Headed for The CW?

What? You think an adaptation of a shlock Japanese teen science fiction movie won’t fit in there? Yeah, of course you don’t.

‘Battle Royale’ Might Get Turned Into A TV Show For CW – by Kevin Jagernauth

Last fall, it was with a small amount of irony that producer Roy Lee revealed that the long-gestating Hollywood remake of the Japanese cult hit “Battle Royale” was essentially put on the back burner due to a similar film that has since become a massive hit.

“‘Hunger Games’ definitely took a lot of wind out of the sails because it definitely has a very similar storyline and so I’m not actually sure if any studio…I’m not even sure if before ‘Hunger Games’ any studio would have been able to take the creative risks you need to make the movie right and now so [making the movie] would be even harder,” Lee explained. But never say die, as the edgy, violent movie may find a home on a channel favored by tweens.

The LA Times reports that talks are underway between CW and the reps for the Hollywood version of “Battle Royale” to bring the movie to the small screen in an English-language show. In case you’re not aware, “Battle Royale” — which came well before Suzanne Collins’ books or the subsequent movies — tells the story of forty-two school children who are brought to an island and are entered in a three-day fight for survival where only one person emerges victorious. Sound familiar?

Interestingly, the writer of this piece finds “the idea of an American remake of this property…a bit ludicrous, if only given that the outrageous, no-holds barred nature of the original simply wouldn’t fly….”

We understand his concern, given the teen soap opera nature of most of the CW’s shows. But to misquote an old saying, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of TV executives.” Oh, well, we don’t have to keep guessing. We just have to wait and see.